Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Amazon Prime
As we all know, there is a huge amount of TV in 2023. At any given time, there are a few dozen shows that you may feel required to watch just to keep up with culture—a volume that can feel oppressive. (In other words: this meme is real.) TV creators know that they are competing for your attention not only with countless other shows, but also with your phone, and sleep, and that it behooves them to seize your attention as quickly as they can.
This may be why, less than five minutes into the series premiere of Prime Video’s new spy drama Citadel, its hero shuts himself into the bathroom of a speeding train with an opponent, and proceeds to wreck him.
Said hero, Richard Madden’s Mason Kane, swiftly disarms his counterpart’s handgun, and the two attack each other with fists and feet and shards of broken mirror, and bounce one another off every surface in the very confined space. You better believe a toilet bowl is also put to non-standard use. Finally, Kane smashes his opponent halfway through the window—which has already been compromised by misdirected gunfire—before kicking him all the way out. All this, and we’re still less than 10 minutes into the episode!